WATCH: Sen. Ossoff’s Bipartisan Bill to Help Solve Civil Rights Cold Cases Passes U.S. Senate

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff's bipartisan Civil Rights bill has passed the U.S. Senate.

Earlier this year, Sens. Ossoff and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced the bipartisan Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act to help secure justice for civil rights cold case victims and their families.

Last night, the bill passed the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support. Sen. Ossoff spoke on the Senate floor to secure Senate passage of the bipartisan bill, which will now head to the U.S. House for consideration

The bipartisan Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act would strengthen and extend the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board's authority through 2031 to help ensure the public release of records related to Civil Rights cold cases from 1940 through 1979 and help enable states and local authorities to release records in their possession.

"We must continue working for justice for these victims, for these survivors, for these families, especially the families of those who were killed, and continue our work to safeguard civil and human rights in the United States," Sen. Ossoff said.

"Civil rights cold case victims and their families deserve justice. Giving the review board more time to investigate these unsolved cases is essential to delivering long-overdue accountability. I am thankful to my colleagues in the Senate for passing this important bipartisan measure, and I call on my colleagues in the House to move quickly to pass this bill so the review board can continue its work," Sen. Cruz said.

Last week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the Board's work to release the investigative files on the beating of Marion King in Albany, Georgia, in 1962. During his speech, Sen. Ossoff highlighted the Review Board's work on this case.

"Mr. President, there is no expiration date on justice, and Mrs. King, who was a Spelman College graduate, married to a prominent Albany civil rights organizer, Slater King, she still deserves justice. And the work of the Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board is helping take a step toward justice in this case," Sen. Ossoff said.

In 2022, Sens. Ossoff and Cruz passed into law the bipartisan Civil Rights Cold Case Investigations Support Act of 2022, which extended the Review Board's term through 2027. However, more time is needed to ensure the Review Board can continue its vital work.

Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff's remarks.

Please find a transcript Sen. Ossoff's remarks below.

SEN. OSSOFF: "Mr. President, in the summer of 1962, in Albany, Georgia, an effort was underway to desegregate the city. And a young woman named Marion King, participating in those efforts, carrying in her arms her three-year-old daughter and five months pregnant at the time, was brutally beaten for demanding the desegregation of Albany, Georgia. That was July of 1962.

"And Mr. President, just this week, The Atlanta Journal Constitution announced that the [Civil Rights] Cold Case Records Review Board, whose purpose is to investigate civil rights cold cases -- the beatings, the killings and lynchings, the intimidation, cases that were never investigated and never solved, especially in the deep south, especially in the State of Georgia during the Civil Rights Movement -- that review board will soon release the full investigative files from the beating of Marion King, in Albany, Georgia, in July of 1962.

"Mr. President, there is no expiration date on justice, and Mrs. King, who was a Spelman College graduate, married to a prominent Albany civil rights organizer, Slater King, she still deserves justice. And the work of the Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board is helping take a step toward justice in this case.

"Mr. President, in 2022, Senator Cruz and I worked together to pass into law a bipartisan bill that extended the work of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board.

"This vital work, pursuing justice in cases that were swept under the rug -- some of the most brutal crimes in our nation's history, targeting Black Americans in the American South in the Jim Crow Era and during the Civil Rights Movement -- we passed that bill in 2022.

"And Mr. President, I'm grateful for the unanimous bipartisan support of the Senate tonight in passing the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act.

"The Senate has just passed this bill, which Senator Cruz and I again have offered to continue this vital work pursuing justice in civil rights cold cases.

"And, as divided and bitter and hateful as American politics is today, for the United States Senate - Democrats,Republicans, and Independents - to stand together with one united voice demanding justice for the victims of these civil rights crimes is a much-needed breath of fresh air.

"We must continue working for justice for these victims, for these survivors, for these families, especially the families of those who were killed, and continue our work to safeguard civil and human rights in the United States.

"Thank you, Mr. President."

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